1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to one-part or multi-part parallelepipedal packaging containers for recording media in tape form which are wound up onto hubs provided with internal bores and are stacked one on top of the other, comprising a bottom part, a top part and side parts, which are joined to one another by means of molded-on film hinges and it being possible for a hub support to be pushed through the internal bores of the hubs.
Large quantities of what are known as pancake packs are sold worldwide by the magnetic tape producers. In these packs, the magnetic tape is wound up onto hubs, for example flangeless hubs, either what are known as NAB hubs or stackable hubs according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,081,151 or other hubs. At present, these pancakes are packed either individually or in multipacks and covered with a shrink film or held by various types of cardboard box.
The disadvantage of the individual pack is that a great deal of packaging material has to be used.
2. Description of the Related Art
Magnetic tape multipacks are disclosed by the publications U.S. Pat. No. 3,543,922, U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,246, U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,471, EP 0 320 751, DE- 8 900 709, DE-U 8 912 747 and DE-U 8 912 749. These packs consist either of relatively voluminous Styropor.RTM. (a registered trademark of BASF for its expandable polystyrene), which means that for transport they are bulky to no useful effect and have to be disposed of once the content has been unpacked, or the pack is held together by plastic pallets and sleeves, the sleeves being of a relatively complicated design and the side parts of the packed product in some cases being inadequately protected since they are covered only by a film shrink-fitted over the pack. Therefore, this pack has to be additionally placed into an outer case for transport.
Pancake packagings which avoid the use of Styropor.RTM. and which are reusable or recyclable are described in DE-U 9 011 867 and in the German application P 40 25 906. However, these packaging containers require many parts and in some cases offer inadequate protection of the content during transport and from dust.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to find a pack for pancakes of the generic type mentioned above which at the same time meets the following conditions:
restriction to the minimum possible proportion of packaging materials to be thrown away PA1 simple design PA1 protects the pancakes during transit and from dust PA1 simple to assemble and to unpack PA1 not bulky in return transport PA1 reusable PA1 no additional outer packaging necessary.